Chris Young, it seems, is living up to his name. He is making the Rangers much younger.

In yesterday’s trade of Rafael Montero to the Seattle Mariners, they swapped a thirty-year-old pitcher for one that’s just seventeen.

After bouncing back from Tommy John surgery, Rafael Montero had two highly productive seasons in the Rangers bullpen.

He put up a 2.48 ERA in twenty-nine innings in 2019. And then, when Jose Leclerc was lost for the year with a torn muscle in his shoulder, Montero jumped into the closer’s role. He picked up eight saves in seventeen appearances, with just one loss and zero blown saves.

He is now moving on to division rival Seattle, presumably to be their closer.

In return, the Rangers get right-handed Dominican pitcher José Corniell, just seventeen. He has yet to throw a pitch in professional baseball since the minor leagues were shut down in 2020.

Obviously, Corniell won’t be in Arlington any time soon. And there’s really nothing to go on other than scouting reports. But the Rangers won’t have much need for a closer in 2021, so might as well stockpile the arms and see what happens.